People

Man-midwives

Man-midwives were male doctors who attended at births instead of female midwives. They were also known as ‘he-midwives’ or (more fashionably) as accoucheurs. After thousands of years of women-only births, male midwifery started suddenly in the early 1700s. University medical graduates, trained in modern anatomy, had become more confident. They also used forceps for difficult births. The midwifery forceps were invented by the Chamberlen family in the 1600s, and remained a family secret until the 1730s. Midwives complained of hundreds of male competitors taking up this lucrative new trade.

In England the wealthiest and most influential man-midwife was the Scottish surgeon William Smellie. Smellie improved the forceps and wrote a bestselling practical midwifery handbook. He taught many pupils, including the famous surgeon and obstetrician William Hunter. Hunter’s pupil William Shippen successfully introduced male midwifery to America. But in Germany female midwives were protected by being given better training and a new licensing system. In France, Italy and Spain the Catholic church insisted on the use of female midwives, to protect female modesty.